September Thread

Its Labor day!  Happy labor day to all the working men, women, moms, and dads.  

In a few mins we'll be heading out to our church labor day picnic. Had a nice long conversation with my dad and found out he's moving to PA.  That will put him 1.5 hr closer to me. No state income tax on his USPS retirement and he's interested in PA CCW permit too. I guess now I have a good reason to get a PA non-res permit!

I recall Labor Days in Wisconsin from 55 years ago, and it was a relatively major holiday, just below July 4 (maybe because of the German & Polish Trade-Unions). My small town had a Labor Day Parade and then everyone went to the Town Park for a Carnival Midway, hamburger sales, & bingo sponsored by the Volunteer Fire Department.

While it is now observed less up-north, I’ve really noticed a difference after moving here to the hills of the South.  I guess that, when you have a culture more closely related  to having to milk the cows and take care of the chickens, the idea of having a day off for being a “worker” has less significance.

Yes, according to wiki Labor Day was started by the unions in the north in 1882.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:Yes, according to wiki Labor Day was started by the unions in the north in 1882.

Yeah, "union" is a bad word in the South.

Phillip Gross wrote:

RRCmdrBennett wrote:Yes, according to wiki Labor Day was started by the unions in the north in 1882.

Yeah, "union" is a bad word in the South.

Does it have something to do with "carpetbaggers" after "The War of Northern Aggression"?

Maybe! Lol. That and we see Detroit and don't want any of that mess down South.

Phillip Gross wrote:Maybe! Lol. That and we see Detroit and don't want any of that mess down South.

I'm sure Chris feels the same way about Detroit being up north!

Yeah I bet. That's just a bad deal all around. There are lots of things that have lead to Detroit's fall. But I'd say, to sum it all up, that socialism doesn't work. How many towns, states, and nations need to be destroyed by Marxism before the low information voters wake up?

They won't wake up they are sheeple. The lie is they are told they will get something for nothing.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:They won't wake up they are sheeple. The lie is they are told they will get something for nothing.

Yep. It's hard to beat Santa Clause.

Phillip Gross wrote:

RRCmdrBennett wrote:They won't wake up they are sheeple. The lie is they are told they will get something for nothing.

Yep. It's hard to beat Santa Clause.

Which is why I won't teach my kids someday to believe in fake man that would give rich kids cars, middle class kids xbox's, and poor kids starve. How do I expect them to keep their Faith in Christ when I lie to them about a fat jolly priest.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:

Phillip Gross wrote:

RRCmdrBennett wrote:They won't wake up they are sheeple. The lie is they are told they will get something for nothing.

Yep. It's hard to beat Santa Clause.

Which is why I won't teach my kids someday to believe in fake man that would give rich kids cars, middle class kids xbox's, and poor kids starve. How do I expect them to keep their Faith in Christ when I lie to them about a fat jolly priest.

You might want to think that one through.

Robbing your children of a traditional childhood fairy tale can have serious reprocussions.

If your kids have to face the hollowness of reality when everyone else in the Second Grade Class is enjoying their childhood, it can give them some emotional scarring -- not to mention having to defend what you have them taught them against the other 98% of the class.

Once you phychologically damage a kid, you can't say "oops" and take it back.

We just got rid of a pastor who was messed up, because his father (also a pastor) would put a Jimmy Swaggart record on the player and beat him until the music finished. It probably seemed like a good idea, at the time.

At first I was expecting a punchline. I hardly think beating your kid till Jimmy gets done playing is the same as not teaching Santa Claus. Aren't we to be truthful and honest even if 98% are against us?  I would add that I would also instruct them to not shatter the Satan Claws err I mean Santa Claus belief in other kids as it would be a fight not worth starting.

Santa Claus is not a part of every child's upbringing. Not all Christians celebrate Christ-mass or Christmas. Others are Jewish, JW, Adventist, muslim, Sikh, etc and don't observe Christmas at all. I don't plan on using the public school system.

My sister and I never grew up with Santa Claus being "real" for us. We focused on Christ instead and read the Christmas story in Luke every holiday eve. My sister and I were taught Jesus was central to Christmas. Just my thoughts the Santa Claus was a character that evolved over time.  In order to keep the Santa myth going parents must buy everything on our kids wishlist.

It seems to me Santa belief overshadows Jesus. Faith is put in a man instead of Christ and we earn our gifts through good works all year long. Whereas the gift of Christ himself was freely given with unmerited favor. To God there was only one list prior to his Son coming to earth, the naughty list.

Btw, I have enjoyed some Santa movies but in the same way I enjoy Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Star Wars. Most people don't indoctrinate their 1-10 yr olds to believe in Jedi/Sith, Capt Kirk, or the Ring of Mordor.  

If its your tradition by all means do as your conscience allows. Its not meant to be an offense to anyone. Peace and carry-on.

God is faithful my Dad is home with Jesus.

Saturday at 4:35 pm my Dad went into eternity. God was good to him and us. He went quickly after being sent home with brain cancer.

He did not suffer and the family was present when he breathed his last breath in this mortal life we live.

I am so thankful that I was able to lead him in the sinners prayer a few years back and heard him confess Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.

His visitation is Wednesday night from 5:30 pm to 7:30 p.m. at Green Lawn North on North National in Springfield, MO.

His funeral is Thursday morning at 10:00 am.

He will be buried south of Lebanon at McBride cemetery near his family.

Knowing and believing with all my heart my Dad is in a better place than you and I is a wonderful heart lifting belief that I am thankful to have.

Many of you sent prayers and emails and calls and thank you for those.

Our God is a loving, caring God.

My dad worked with me on plumbing the Big Shower house at the RR campground he also came up a few times to open up for Pow Wow. Those days are a found memory for me.

Nothing better than working for the Lord.

Blessings to you and your family.

Mark Jones

The Union in my case of 34 years has kept the Company from abusing me in every way they want. It has given the US a middle class. Now that Unions are on the decline so is the Middle class. The only reason big business has given me benefits is because of the Labor union bargining for me. I see today more people going to work for the "man" and getting a 40 hour week with no retirement, no health care, no vision program, no dental, a week of vacation or two and they are owned by the "man".

Having been under the "man" in several jobs. I much prefer to have a watch dog (the union) looking over "the man" so he doesn't do as his nature does and treat me unfairly.

Sure there are abuses in the Unions. Sure there are abuses in the non Union shops. Man has a sin
nature. He will at the drop of a hat treat some folks badly while he treats others wonderfully. It's been nice over my 34 years to have a union that has done a good job for me.

If I was the "the man" I wouldn't want anyone watching over me either...after all I am god in my own business. Yet as far as the worker that makes "the man" his money. I am part of the team and do deserve part of the blessing. There is a balance.

Our nation will once again have to learn the value of the labor unions if we want a middle class. History records this point blank with facts. We are strong when we have a middle class.

Mark Jones

Phillip Gross wrote:

RRCmdrBennett wrote:Yes, according to wiki Labor Day was started by the unions in the north in 1882.

Yeah, "union" is a bad word in the South.

You make some good points. All of you have. I was raised a Jehovah's Witness. They don't celebrate Christmas. They infact tell everyone it is a pagan holiday. They don't celebrate birtdays as it puts one up higher than another and 2 examples in the Bible show people were killed during these pagan celebrations.

GRIN! What I have experienced is while the rest of all my friends were excited about Christmas and all the plays and traditons and fun and food and fairy tales and such. I missed out. From birth to 5th grade we celebrated Christams. Good times. Great memories. From the 6th grade till now. No Christmas at my Mom's house. Missed 45 years of good times and good memories.

Every day, I and I do mean every day we come in contact with the world and it's flesh and it's pagan ways and it's good and bad points.

I hate the legalisims. I hate the laws. I hate them because NO ONE CAN LIVE UP TO THEM. We are all hypocrites in some form or another. Grace is God's plan.

I would have loved to have 45 years of Christmas's with Santa and the cartoons of the north pole and the fun of the celebrations and the silly nonsense. I know in my heart that God would rather have the family together laughing enjoying caring and helping one another than us being caught up in legalisims and depriving the family of these times. Devil wins when that happens.

Mark Jones

RRCmdrBennett wrote:At first I was expecting a punchline. I hardly think beating your kid till Jimmy gets done playing is the same as not teaching Santa Claus. Aren't we to be truthful and honest even if 98% are against us?  I would add that I would also instruct them to not shatter the Satan Claws err I mean Santa Claus belief in other kids as it would be a fight not worth starting.

Santa Claus is not a part of every child's upbringing. Not all Christians celebrate Christ-mass or Christmas. Others are Jewish, JW, Adventist, muslim, Sikh, etc and don't observe Christmas at all. I don't plan on using the public school system.

My sister and I never grew up with Santa Claus being "real" for us. We focused on Christ instead and read the Christmas story in Luke every holiday eve. My sister and I were taught Jesus was central to Christmas. Just my thoughts the Santa Claus was a character that evolved over time.  In order to keep the Santa myth going parents must buy everything on our kids wishlist.

It seems to me Santa belief overshadows Jesus. Faith is put in a man instead of Christ and we earn our gifts through good works all year long. Whereas the gift of Christ himself was freely given with unmerited favor. To God there was only one list prior to his Son coming to earth, the naughty list.

Btw, I have enjoyed some Santa movies but in the same way I enjoy Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Star Wars. Most people don't indoctrinate their 1-10 yr olds to believe in Jedi/Sith, Capt Kirk, or the Ring of Mordor.  

If its your tradition by all means do as your conscience allows. Its not meant to be an offense to anyone. Peace and carry-on.

Mark Jones wrote:God is faithful my Dad is home with Jesus.  

Saturday at 4:35 pm my Dad went into eternity.  God was good to him and us.  He went quickly after being sent home with brain cancer.

Mark
I am sorry to hear of you dads passing, but I am glad to hear he is no longer in pain & that his family was able to be with him at the end

Mark, I'm sorry to hear of your dads passing. I've lost my mom so I can relate.

Referring to the other topic of Christmas we still had all the other holiday trimmings and traditions. In a way JW is right on about pagan traditions being brought into Christmas and Easter as well. The timing of the holiday is around the same week as those rituals were performed. For me the holiday can include Santa but should never make him the central part of it. I think Jesus makes it more special cause the gift of salvation is eternal and not temporal as the ones Santa gives. Each should do as their conscience dictates. I'm fine as long we're not sacrificing virgins and dancing naked around an altar  

Tonight we resume our normal Ranger schedule.

Started off on Tool Craft as I had to stop some unsafe usage a few times over the summer.
only 4 showed up. 2 DR 1 AR 1 ER

We restarted tonight as well. I had 5 in AR class. One longtime absentee, two 12 yr olds turning 13 soon, and 1 DR who was promoted up. We did some practice of the pledges, code, motto, and formation commands. We started rope craft teaching square knot, parts of the rope, and I demonstrated the sheepshank. My two cut-ups were more interested after seeing me tie the sheepshank knot. They wanted to know how I did it.

One boy is going football till Dec and turns 13 during that time so I'll be booting him over to youth pastor. Not gonna complain on that one leaving. The long time absentee got a little upset over his cell being taken away after he pulled it out once too many times. Other cut-up goes over to youth in October. I'm betting his partner in comedy will go with him.

Next week is power surge aka fall revival so we're off.

Mark, our thoughts are with you & your family.

The passing of a parent never comes easily. It's either fast and excruciatingly painful or slow & lingering.

I had the latter with my father. And while it hurts, I was glad to see him finish the Race.

ccm2361 wrote:

Mark Jones wrote:God is faithful my Dad is home with Jesus.  

Saturday at 4:35 pm my Dad went into eternity.  God was good to him and us.  He went quickly after being sent home with brain cancer.

Mark
I am sorry to hear of you dads passing, but I am glad to hear he is no longer in pain & that his family was able to be with him at the end

Mark, I am also sorry to hear of your dads passing. I am glad to hear that he went peacefully, not everyone's family can say that as I am sure you know. You all have an awesome testimony.
We give God praise.  

Tonight we had our annual Christian Ed Banquet at camp. Good Italian menu with spaghetti & meatballs, chicken fetacini, braised beef tortellini, stuffed shells, salad, and desert. I finally a door prize this time I got a $15 Steak n Shake gift card. Some of our Power For Life (older children's church) workers performed some funny skits they do for the kids on Sun mornings. Each skit taught a biblical truth by demonstrating a real life situation in a hilarious way!

Nice day today  
was off today as there was no work for me to do. We headed out to the range & did some shooting  
I decided to try my .22 pistol on the 25 yard range ( I had only shot it on the 10 yard range prior)
missed a lot on the first magazine, but eventually hit with 22 of my 35 shots.

I was pleasantly surprised  
I wasn't expecting a lot at that distance from a pocket pistol with a 2-3/4" barrel

Still working on the basement. The "Wailing Wall" has been finished, but now Mama wants the entire basement drywalled, tiled or plank floor, and dropped ceiling.

I picked up a Remington Model 34P Bolt Rifle that I wanted to try out. After working on the basement, I only had about 20 minutes of daylight to run down to the range.

Shooting offhand from 60 yards at 3x6 inch pieces of drywall, I found that I need to cut back on the coffee. I was hitting the drywall, but it looked more like a shotgun pattern, than a rifle group.